Buckeyes. They look like harmless seeds growing on an obscure tree here in Alabama but in the hands of a pre-pubescent kid they can be lethal...or at the least, very painful.

When I was a kid, we didn't have electronics. We did have a TV, but it was black and white. It hummed and crackled before the speckled picture materialized on the screen. This didn't hold a hyper kids attention long unless it was Saturday morning and there were horror movies showing.

So, we had to find other ways to entertain ourselves. We spent a lot of time fishing, hunting, swimming in creeks, and building forts. Yes, we were at war a great deal during those years.

One of my best weapons was a stick about 40 inches long and buckeye seeds.

You see, you can sharpen the end of a hedge limb and scrunch on a buckeye seed about the size of a golfball and you had firepower.

Even if the enemy was 50 yards away if your aim was true and the wind was right you could smack an enemy invader in the head. Believe me. I've been the whack-or and the whack-ee. When a buckeye seed whizzing at what seems like the speed of light smacks you on the head it hurts.

It's a thousand wonders I escaped childhood with both eyes, all my teeth, and only a few permanent scars.

I thought of this today during our morning walk when I saw buckeyes down by the barn.